Tractors and other mobile units (jointly referred to herein as “tractors”) with buckets, front-end loaders, or back-end loaders (all of which are jointly referred to herein as “buckets”) are used for handling and moving many types of particulate material. Such buckets are normally supported by one or more arms of the tractor, where the arms are hydraulically actuated up and down using a motor and the bucket is moved forward or backward with the movement of the tractor. The buckets are normally used to scrape or scoop up particulate material and move that material from one location to another. For instance, buckets attached to tractors are frequently used for scooping and moving earth, sand, gravel, rocks, snow, and many other types of particulate material.
While such buckets are well-suited for handling and moving particulate materials, they are less satisfactory for handling other types of materials and for performing other types of work that frequently becomes necessary in rural or construction settings. For instance, moving piles of brush, picking up pallets on which materials are stacked, moving rubbish and trash piles, hauling large hay bales, clearing vines or smoothing a road surface are tasks that are not easily accomplished by use of a standard tractor bucket. As a result, the need frequently arises to remove the bucket from the tractor and exchange it for a separate implement (the terms “implement” and “tool” are treated as interchangeable) that can be directly mounted to the arms of the tractor for use in performing a particular task or type of work. Making such a changeover from a bucket to a separate implement that is directly mounted onto a tractor is cumbersome, inefficient and requires the substantial expenditure of time and effort to remove the bucket and then remount the implement on the arms of the tractor. It is preferable to avoid this type of inefficiency, if possible.
Several attempts have been made in the past to provide for an implement adapter device that will permit the attachment of a separate implement to the bucket of a tractor. Such implement adapter devices have taken the form of a device that has a frontal portion located in the front of the bucket on which the workload or workpiece is supported during the handling process. These devices are supported by the leading edge of the bottom wall of a bucket where the main structure of the implement adapter device overlies the leading edge of the bottom wall of the bucket and the device has a slot or groove into which the leading edge of the bottom wall of the bucket is received. The working load supported by the front end portion of these implement adapter devices is typically counter-balanced by a rear portion that underlies and bears against the bottom wall of the bucket so that the support for the implement adapter device and the supported workload is designed on cantilever principles. In several instances these types of implement adapter devices use clamping means in which the leading edge of the bucket is maintained in the slot or groove of the device with removable clamping means that clamp the device onto one or more edges of the bucket. These types of clamping devices often loosen during use and permit the implement adapter device to separate from the walls of the bucket.
In other instances, mechanical fasteners that rigidly affix implements directly to one or more walls of a bucket or loader have been advocated. These methods require substantial time and effort to manually rigidly affix an implement to a bucket because they require mechanical interconnection of the implement directly with the bucket. Further, such methods require additional time and effort to mechanically disconnect the implement from the bucket when the implement is no longer in use and the user wishes to return to using the bucket by itself. Such changeovers waste time and effort during the initial rigid affixation of the implement directly to the bucket and during the subsequent mechanical removal of implement from the bucket.
Another method which has been suggested for securing implements to a bucket is to use chains, ropes, or similar flexible attachment means to fasten implements or implement adapters to one or more bucket walls. This approach may also entail the use of an overcenter arm, a buckle, pulley or similar device for adjusting the overall length of the fastener. However, it is often difficult to maintain a tight connection that prevents movement of the implement or implement adapter in this arrangement, which means that movement of the implements relative to the bucket is possible and therefore use of the implements becomes problematic.
In an effort to address the problems exhibited by the aforementioned types of implement adapter devices and methods, a number of somewhat more sophisticated implement adapter mechanisms have been proposed. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,512 to Felstet discloses an implement adapter system involving a bucket with built-in sockets for receiving an implement, where the sockets are part of the side walls and bottom wall of the bucket itself. Felstet's mechanism involves the insertion of part of an implement directly into the sockets that are disposed within the body of the bucket and then rigid affixation of the implement to the bucket using bolts that are inserted through the bucket's sockets and through the implement. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,938 to Logan discloses an implement adapter device comprised of a plate for attaching implements that is rigidly connected to an excavator by at least four arms. A pair of said arms are coupled with the wrist pin of the excavator, and a second pair of said arms are rigidly fastened to the inside portion of the side walls of the excavator. The patent to Logan also discloses a hinged attachment device for connecting tools or implements to an excavator. The attachment device is connected to a plate with multiple hinges that engage the excavator. The attachment device pivots about the hinges and pins are used to secure the base of the attachment to the excavator.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,142 to Truan discloses a bucket-mounted sweeper implement and a proposed apparatus for attaching such an implement to a bucket. The Truan patent discloses an implement that is permanently, rigidly affixed to a housing wherein the housing has a pair of top mounting brackets on both sides of the housing that are each provided with multiple attachment points. When it is desired to place the implement into use, the implement and its housing and mounting brackets may be bolted to two mounting arms that are themselves pinned to the inside portions of the side walls of a bucket. The apparatus appears to be primarily designed for use with a brush-type implement with a housing that can be connected on each of its ends to the mounting arms at the location of the mounting brackets and will then hang down from the bucket and can be moved along a surface for sweeping particulate materials. The apparatus is problematic during actual use because removal of a specific implement requites that the implement and its mounting brackets must be unbolted from each of the mounting arms. Alternatively, an implement can be removed by unpinning the mounting arms from the sidewalls of the bucket while the implement is still bolted to the mounting arms, but this does not allow for immediate attachment of a different implement to the bucket because such a changeover to another implement would still require the unbolting of the implement from the mounting arms. Thus, a changeover between implements is cumbersome and inefficient. It is also unclear how much support is provided to various implements by the feet of the mounting arms that engage with the bottom wall of the bucket, and it is possible that heavier implements may not be well supported by the apparatus, whereas the brush implement disclosed by Truan apparently receives at least some physical support from the ground or surface underlying the brush implement's bristles.